


Back in One Piece

by moovelope



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: And angst, F/M, Fluff, Orange Spacesuit timeline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-03
Updated: 2013-07-03
Packaged: 2017-12-17 12:33:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/867595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moovelope/pseuds/moovelope
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He's held onto the orange spacesuit for centuries.  He wouldn't want to seem sentimental about it, but there are times when he wears the suit and just remembers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Back in One Piece

He'd first gotten the spacesuit on that Impossible Planet, orbiting, yet not succumbing, to the black hole in the distance.  Ida had handed it to him, telling him to be careful and dear lord why was she trusting a bloke that mysteriously popped up on the ship two hours ago?  Rose was going to be mad, but there were only two suits handy since the storage bay that housed the TARDIS also had held the extras.

And he's got to go down.  To see what's down there, to see if he can fix this mess.  And Rose, bless her, understands.

"I want that space suit back in one piece, you got that?" she teases. 

"Yes, sir."

“It’s funny, ‘cause people back at home think that space travel’s gonna be all whizzing about and teleports and anti-gravity.  But it’s not, is it?  It’s tough.”  He’s silent for a moment, not wanting to confirm her fears.

“I’ll see you later,” he says.

“Not if I see you first,” she says, then laughs.  He smiles as well as she lightly grips his helmet and tilts his head to press a kiss into his visor.

And later, after he discovers what was lurking in the middle of that prison planet and after Rose expels Satan himself from the cockpit of the escape pod, the Doctor realizes he forgot the broken helmet at the base of the pit.

"Spacesuit's not much use if you don't have a helmet," Rose adds as he unzips and unclips the orange outfit, letting it pool on the floor.

"Gonna have to get another one, then.  Maybe get you a spacesuit too, could come in handy."

Rose laughs.  "God, I hope not.  But, knowing us, we'll end up being thrown out of a ship because of something you said."

The Doctor points sternly at her.  "That was once."

"Still, it's a good idea."

And she’s smiling so brightly, and they’ve both made it through the day alive, the Doctor can’t help but kiss her.  She chuckles as he wraps his arms around her.  They leave the spacesuit behind next to the console.

Later they make a stop at a planet in Earth's sector of the galaxy (though hundreds of years in the future in relation to Rose’s time) and pick up a matching blue suit for Rose and a new helmet for the Doctor.

"Look, we're complementary!" the Doctor says, holding the two suits side by side.  Rose groans.

"What a sight for sore eyes!  Really Doctor?"

"Why not? And the suits almost TARDIS blue.  Can't go wrong with that."

"S'pose you can't.  Here, let me carry mine back to the TARDIS."

As they were leaving the shop the Doctor paused.  "Wait, wait somethings missing here."

"What did you forget?" she asks, stopping beside him.

"There's something wrong with this helmet," the Doctor said, pulling it over his head and sniffing indignantly.  She grasps the helmet and turns his head this way and that, looking for imperfections.

"Then let's return it, they had a ridiculous thirty minute return policy."

"No, no that's not it.  The last one I had was lucky.  This one isn't."

Rose went from concerned to exasperated.  "How was the other helmet lucky?"

"Oh, someone kissed the visor for good luck, and it was pretty lucky after that," the Doctor replied, grinning.

Rose grinned as well, "Well we wouldn't want an unlucky helmet, give it here," she said, pulling his head forward and kissing the pressure proof glass.

"There, perfect."

"I do give great lucky kisses," Rose added, tongue just peeking out into her smile.

"Oh do you?" the Doctor asked, eyebrow shooting up wickedly.

"Oh come on you," Rose laughed, and led the Doctor back to the TARDIS.

...

Much later, what feels like decades upon decades but only measures a few short years, the Doctor enters his wardrobe.  He pointedly ignores the dusty blue spacesuit as he pulls on his stolen orange one, grabbing the helmet off its rack close by.  He pauses a moment, then lightly presses his lips to the glass.  Pinching his lips, he pulls on the helmet.  He wasn't going to let this spacesuit get him down; he was going to have a fun little trip on Mars.

But, as things usually go with 'fun little trips' he ends up falling face first into conflict that he has to help resolve.  It's a fixed point in time, but he's a Time Lord and he can bend the rules to his whim.  His helmet cracks and his only concern is that it means he can't get to his ship.  In a fit of rage he throws it to the ground and moves on.

It's not only until after, when he's changed history from "died on Mars" to "died on Earth" does he realize that he's lost another helmet.  A fairly irreplaceable one, at that.

...

He's got a new face and a few new companions and several hundred years under his belt since he first picked up the suit.  He's gone through two more helmets and has had to patch up three holes in the worn orange fabric (he's fairly good at sewing).  The old thing is durable, and well worn.  He doesn't use it often, and even when he does, he doesn't give it much thought.

Except.  Except perhaps once or twice, when he lets his fingers roam over the rough texture and closes his eyes.  He remembers when the fabric was new, when the orange was that much brighter.  He doesn't remember the matching TARDIS blue suit (but it's still there, somewhere, in the section of the wardrobe he enters only to deposit clothes whose owners won't be around to use them).

And perhaps, if he's feeling rather sentimental, he will close his eyes and press his lips to his visor and breathe "I'll bring this old spacesuit back in one piece, I promise."  And then the Doctor clears his throat and exits the wardrobe, out on his next adventure.


End file.
